The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1887-11-11
SCI III
/ HISTORY OF ADVENTURE.
sY Il. RIDER HAcaARD.

bY d. RIDER HAGGARD.
itore my hair, and jumped up on my
couch, feeling that if I did not do some-
thing I should also go off my head. What
lid she mean about the ~scarabmus, tool
II was Leo's scarabBus, and had come out
pfthc old Golfer that vincey had left IN my
looms nearly one-and-twenty years before.
Could it be, after all, that the whole story
wa true, and the writing on the sherd
wa not q forgery, or the invention Of some
crack-brained, long-forgotten individuali
! And II so, could 1t be that Leo was the
man that She was waiting for-the dead
man who was ia be born againl Imposst-
BILE againi The whole thing was Ribber-
oh: who ever heard Of . man being born
\gaini
Next I bethought me that I had not been
to see how Leo was, 80, taking up Que Of
the lamps that burned away at my bed
aide, I slipped off my shoes and crept down
the passage to the entrance of his cave,
The draught OF night air was lifting his
curtain to and fro gently, as though spirit
hands were drawing and re-drawiAs It. I
slid into the vault-like apartment and
looked. There was o light in 1t, and Leo
was lying on the couch, tossing restlessly
in his fever, but asleep. BY his side, half
lying On the floor, half leaning against the
stone couch, was Ustane. She held his
hand.fn one Of hers, but she too was dox-
lng, and the two made a pretty, or rather
spathetic, picture. Poor Leol his cheek
was burning red, there were dark shadows
beneath his eyes, and his breath came
heavily. He was very, very i'll; and again
the horrible fear seized me that he might
die, and I be left alone in the world. And.
yet IL he lived he would perhaps be my
rival with Ayesha; even IL he were not the
man, what chance should /, %middle-aged
and hideous, have againstliis bright youth
and beauty! Well, thank Heaven! nv
sense of right was not dead. She had not
killed that yet; and, as 1 stood there, I
prayed to the Almighty in my heart that
my boy, my more than son, might live, az.
even If he proved to be the man.
Then l went back as softly us had come,
but still 1 could not sleep, the sight and.
thought of dear Leo lying there so iii had
but added fuel to the fire Of my unrest.
My wearied body and overstrained mind
had awakened NIL my Imagination into
~preternatural activity. Ideas, visions, al
most inspirations, floated before it with
startling vividness. Most of them were
grotesque enough, some were CHASTITY,
some recalled thoughts and sensations that
had for years been buried in the debris of
my past life. But behind and above them
all lowered the shape of that awful wom-
an, and through them CLEANED the memory
Of her enhancing loyeliness. Upand down
the cave I strode-up and down.
Suddenly I observed what I had not no.
ticed before, that there was a narrow apcr.
ture in the rocky wall. Itook up helamp
and examined it; the aperture led to a pas.
sage. Now l was still sufficiently sensible
b remember that it is not pleasant, in such
Dsttuation rs ours was, to have passages
running into ones bed-chambcr from no
sne knows where. If there are passages.
people can come up them; they can come
up when one is asleep. Partly to see where
1t went to, and partly from u restless desire
to be doing something, l followed the pas
sage. 1t led to a stone stair, which 1 de-
scended; the stair ended in another pas.
J sage, or rather tunnel, also hewn out of
the bedrock, and running, SO far ms Icould
Judge, exactly beneath the passage that
led to the entrance of otirrooms, and across
the great central cave. 1 went on down
1T; it was as silent as the grave, but still.
drawn by some sensation or attracticn that
lean not describe, 1 followed on, my stock
tn2ed feet falling without noise on the
smAoth and rocky floor. When 1 had
travcrsed some fifty yards of space /
came to another passage, running at right
angles, and here an awful thing happened
to me: The sharp draught caughtm my lamp
and extinguished it, leaving me in utter
darkness in the bowels of that mysterious
nInna n kNN1r - o,.,1 80 rA.:ln. z-,,,r A2
80 as to clear the. bisecting tunnel, being
terribly afraid lest I should turn up in the
dark IL once / got confused as to the direc-
ton, and then paused to think. What was
Ito do? Ihad no match; 1t seemed awful
to attempt that long journey back through
the utter gloom, and yet / could not stand
there all night, and, If 1 did, probably it
would not help me much, for in the bowels
Of the rock it would be as dark at midday
as at midnight. 1 looked bach over my
shoulder-not a sight or a sound. Ipeered
forward down the darkness; surely far
away I saw something like the faint glow
OF fire. Perhaps it was q cave where
could get a light-at any rate it was worth
investigating. Slowly and painfully I
crept along the tunnel, keeping my hand
against its wall, and feeling at every step
with my foot before I put it down, fearing
lest I should fall into some pit. Thirty
paces-there was a light, a Pickering light
shining through curtainsi Fifty PAGES
It was close at handl Sixty-oh, great
Heaven!
Twas at the curtains, and they did not
hang close, so I could see clearly into the
little cavern beyond them. It had all the
appearance of being q tomb, and was lit
up by a fire that burned in its center with
q whitish flame and without smoke. In
deed, the g to the left was a stone shelf
with a little ledge to it three inches or so
high, and on the shelf lay what I took to
be q corpse; at any rate, 1t looked like one.
with something white thrown " 1t. To
the right was q similar shelf, on which lay
some broidered coverings. Over the fire
bent the figure of a woman, she was side
ways to me and facing the corpse, wrapped
In q dark mantle that hid her like q nuns
cloak. She seemed to be staring at the
fickering flame. Suddenly, Us I was try.
ing to make up my mind what to do, with
q convulsive movement that somehow gave
an impression of despairing energy, the
woman rose to her feet and cast the dark
cloak from her.
It was She herself.
CL.-.. oVo%hod n = hod ooou Iov